OREANDA-NEWS. Until 2028, revenue in the European card payment market will grow by about 5.9% per year, predicts The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), an international consulting company. At the same time, according to the company’s forecast for the Russian media, the East European market will grow significantly faster than the West European market - 7.4% versus 5% per year. BCG calls Russia the main locomotive of the East European market.

“Russia is fueling much of this expansion. The combination of cheap retail financing, high market concentration and large technology investments has contributed to the creation of the “Russian miracle”, the BCG report said. According to it, in 2010–2018, the volume of payments in Russia grew by an average of 22.1%, in 2019–2028 the growth will decrease to 11.8%, however, even after that, Russia will be ahead of all other countries considered in the study (total 58).

Max Hauser, Managing Director and Partner of BCG and Head of Digital Expert Practice in Russia and the CIS, explained that in 2010–2018 there was a “phenomenal” increase in the number of non-cash card transactions in Russia. Over the years, it has grown almost 30 times - from 5.8 to 172 per year per person. “According to this indicator, Russia has overtaken all European countries, including leaders who have shown double and triple growth over the same period. The reasons for this success are that the actions of each of the participants in the transition to cashless transactions worked for each other as catalysts, fueling and enhancing rapid development”, said Hauser.

Experts also noted that the adaptation of contactless payments and payments using mobile phones (Apple Pay, Samsung Pay) was also more successful in Russia than anywhere else in the world.